<h1>Tour de France: Chris Froome extends lead despite crash as Romain Bardet wins stage 19</h1>

Britain's Chris Froome extended his overall lead of the Tour First State France despite blooming on stage nineteen, that was won by French person Romain Bardet. Froome, 31, crashed down in wet conditions, however the cheat on champion continued athletics once borrowing team-mate Geraint Thomas' bike. Team Sky's Froome currently leads by four minutes and eleven seconds from stage winner Bardet, UN agency is up to second. Colombian Nairo Quintana is third, whereas Briton Adam Yates is currently fourth. With 2 stages currently remaining, together with the finale into Paris on Sunday, Bardet's ending was the primary for a French rider within the 2016 Tour.
As it happened: Tour First State France - stage nineteen

France's capital of South Dakota Rolland slips on the wet tarmac France's capital of South Dakota Rolland was the primary rider to fall once the difficult descents towards the top of the stage Treacherous stage results in many casualties Froome, UN agency improved his lead by nineteen seconds, was during all|one amongst|one in every of} many fallers in a treacherous finish to the 146km stage, because the rain turned the road into AN rink. In general classification terms, the most important casualty was Dutch rider Bauke Mollema, UN agency started the day second overall. But his fall on one descent meant he finished over four minutes behind Bardet to tumble down the classification, seven minutes and forty two seconds behind Froome. Compatriot Tom Dumoulin, UN agency has won 2 stages on this year's Tour and is one in every of the favourites to win the Olympic time trial in urban center next month, had to withdraw due to AN earlier crash. The 25-year-old suffered what was delineated as a "severe radiocarpal joint trauma" however it's not been confirmed whether or not it had been a sprain or fracture. Chris Froome thanks team-mate Wout Poels Chris Froome thanks team-mate Wout Poels once serving to him up the ultimate climb

Froome shows winners' grit yet again

Froome's injuries were superficial as compared, however his yellow jersey showed the extent of the slide he took across the road, and he appeared on the ending ambo at the top with a treated knee. Astana's Vincenzo Nibali conjointly weakened right behind the 2013 and 2015 winner, whereas BMC's Richie Sublime Porte was another leading rider to suffer from a fall because the race descended into chaos. The fact that Froome stayed connected together with his main rivals was all the way down to 2 factors: the selflessness of his team-mates and his determination to carry onto the jersey. With the Team Sky automobile approach behind, Thomas gave up his bike so Froome failed to lose time expecting a replacement and Dutch team-mate Wout Poels did a sterling job of serving to Froome shut down the opposite contenders for the final classification. But having already run up to the end of Mont Ventoux on stage twelve once blooming into a motorcycle, Froome showed similar resolve as he supercharged up the 10km climb to the end, despite Thomas's bike having a unique gear set-up. His efforts meant he solely lost ten seconds to Movistar's Quintana, whereas Thomas lost six minutes. "Ironically, i used to be attempting to remain safe however I hit one in every of the white lines and lost my front wheel," Froome told ITV4. "I'm lucky nothing is seriously scraped. I lost some skin and banged my knee a bit bit however nowadays i am grateful to own that four-minute advantage to fall on. "It was nice to own team-mates around Pine Tree State, Wout Poels especially. It feels smart to be in some unspecified time in the future nearer to the end. nowadays showed precisely why i believed the Tour wasn't over." On victimisation Thomas' bike, he added: "I knew the automobile was quite an whereas back and my bike wasn't rideable, therefore thanks heaps to Geraint for his bike. it had been alright." Romain Bardet Romain Bardet attained ending and second place overall once a late attack on stage nineteen

Yates suffers in race for overall ambo

In addition to Froome's excellence, Yates sturdiness has been one in every of the stories of this year's Tour, shocking everybody by hanging onto AN overall ambo position till this engrossing stage. He has been dubbed 'the shadow' for his ability to hold on to the yellow jersey cluster, however this can be wherever the 23-year-old from Bury finally ran out steam. The stage started with a 20-man breakaway, that was slowly clawed back, and it wasn't till the ultimate climb of the day once riders began to create their move. Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida) was the primary to create an opportunity, however he was caught then overtaken by Bardet, UN agency saw his chance to attack. And as capital of Kazakhstan riders Joaquim Rodriguez and Fabio Aru, and Quintana, cranked up the pace, for once, Orica-BikeExchange's Yates couldn't respond. He remains within the young riders' white jersey, with another stage within the Alps to return as he tries to overtake Quintana, UN agency is 9 seconds ahead. Meanwhile, Tinkoff's Rafal Majka took AN unassailable lead within the race for the king of the mountains figure jersey.